I would like to formally renounce my baptism
and membership in the Catholic Church.

What is the best way to do this?

I want any and all records destroyed. An official
certificate of renunciation signed by a local
bishop would be nice.

Are those available?

Thanks in advance!

Oliver

{
What
is the best way to formally renounce my baptism
and membership in the Catholic Church? }

Eric
replied:

Sorry to hear you feel this way,
Oliver.

Any particular reason for this
course of action?

There is no way to have your sacramental
documents destroyed, as they pertain
to sacraments that cannot be repeated
(except for marriage, which can't
be repeated while your spouse is
alive). The documents are needed
as evidence to keep the sacraments
in order.

If you wish, you can write a letter
to your local bishop renouncing your
membership but, practically speaking,
this will do nothing except make
you feel better. You'll be subject
to the same laws.
(It would have freed you from Catholic
law a few months ago but new rules
went into effect.)

I'd just make this comment: If you
think the Catholic Church has power
over you: requiring the release you
are asking for, perhaps you believe
in it more than you think.

Eric

Mike
replied:

Hi, Eric —

In this answer you said:If you wish,
you can write a letter to your local
bishop renouncing your membership
but, practically speaking, this will
do nothing except make you feel better.
You'll be subject to the same laws.
(It would have freed you from Catholic
law a few months ago but new rules
went into effect.)

What rules went into effect?

Mike

Eric
replied:

Hi, Mike —

When the new Code of Canon Law was
put into effect in 1983, it applied
Catholic marriage law to those Catholics
who had not left the Church "by
a formal act". That is to say,
if you did not get married in the
Church but had not left the Church
by a formal act, the marriage was
invalid;
but if you had, you were treated
as a Protestant. The trouble was, "formal
act" was never defined, and
there were some abuses or undesirable
situations going on. So, a dubium
was issued (I think that's the
term) a few years ago which changed
canon law and said that in order
to be considered non-Catholic for
purposes of canon law, you had to
write a letter to your bishop renouncing
the faith.

This clarified what "formal
act" meant, but in practice,
it only screwed things up further
since no one actually bothered doing
this. Throwing up their hands in
exasperation, a few months ago they
changed the law again, this time
saying that there was no way to be
excused from the provisions of canon
law once you became Catholic.

Thus once you become Catholic, even
if you join a Protestant church or
become the most bitter atheist spewing
hateful invectives and blaspheming
Christ, your marriages will still
be invalid
if they are conducted outside of
the Catholic Church.

Eric

Oliver
replied:

You said:Sorry to hear
you feel this way, Oliver.

Any particular reason
for this course of action?

As a teenager, I was sexually abused
by my parish priest. Although I reported
it then, nothing was ever done about
it, despite the fact that the priest
confessed to it. In fact, the bishop
and his lawyers threatened me if
I went public. The bishop removed
the priest from his position only
because he was forced to. To this
day, he still defends that priest.

That is the Church YOU believe in.

Oliver

Eric
replied:

Oliver —

What happen to you was terrible and
should not have happened by any stretch
of the imagination. The priest and
bishop will have to answer for it
on Judgment Day and they will pay
a very harsh penalty indeed. Your
feelings are understandable. But
let me suggest this:

Sexual abuse occurs in a wide range
of occupations, from day care providers
to teachers to policemen to relatives
and so forth. And it is usually covered
up and ignored, as in your case.
Nevertheless, no one ever says:

"I don't believe in the
public education system anymore
because a teacher abused me and
the administrators didn't believe
me"

or

"I don't believe in families
anymore because my uncle abused
me" or what have you.

yet, people say this about the Church.
Why is that?

It would be one thing if the doctrines
of the Church taught that sexual
abuse was good, or that priests should
not be questioned, or that what a
priest did was without sin but that's
not what we believe. What happened
to you was wrong by Catholic standards.
No one ever said that there would
not be sinners in the Church. The
fact that one Church leader sins
doesn't disprove the whole Church
and its 2,000 year history. It has
been so from the beginning. Among
the first twelve bishops, two committed
grievous sins. One betrayed the Lord.
Another denied him.
(And he was the first pope!) If you're
looking for sinless people you're
looking in the wrong place. (Let
me know when you find them.)

This is not to minimize your pain
or justify what was done. What was
done to you was not justifiable.
But just as I do not renounce my
U.S. citizenship because one or two
politicians do something wrong, the
fact a bishop and priest grievously
erred doesn't mean you should renounce
the Church.

It will, I expect, require heroic
effort to get over this fact but
you should at least give it serious
consideration, because your soul
is at stake.

Eric

Oliver
replied:

OK, so you don't believe a higher
standard should be expected of the
Catholic Church?

That's encouraging! So we should
all lower our expectations of priests
and of bishops:

who claim to be on the side
of God himself!

who claim moral authority!

who claim to advocate for those
wronged!

We should expect them to behave
no better than a common criminal?

I don't hear principals, teachers,
day care providers claiming the high
ground and lecturing everyone about
morality.

In that case, why should anyone
choose the Church, when they could
just as well join NAMBLA and get
the same results?

Normal people everywhere know
that this is wrong, so why should
we have to wait until "Judgment
Day" to hold the perpetrators
and their protectors accountable?

The very men who are responsible
for this are still in office, and
you're still kissing their rings.
People like you are one of the reasons
the abuse has flourished.

You make me SICK.

Oliver

Eric
replied:

Oliver —

I'm not saying there shouldn't be
a higher standard; you are quite
right, there should be. I'm saying
that the fact that some priests fail
at that high standard — and
I guarantee you they will — doesn't
prove that the whole religion is
wrong, bogus, or illegitimate. The
two are not connected.

No matter how high your standard,
no matter how important the person,
someone violating it doesn't prove
God doesn't exist. It doesn't prove
the Catholic Church is not the Church
Christ founded and it doesn't prove
Catholicism is wrong. All it proves
is that priests are sinners, just
like us, which the Church will gladly
grant you.

While your feeling is certainly understandable,
allowing ourselves to be consumed
with anger or hate against anyone
just turns us into empty shells of
men and deprives us of joy. Someone
once said that holding a grudge is
like drinking poison and waiting
for the other person to die.

While I suspect the term "grudge" doesn't
do justice to what you feel, the
same principle applies.

I hope you can find a place in your
heart for some measure of forgiveness;
if not for the perpetrator, then
for the Church; if not for someone
else's sake, for your own.

Eric

Oliver
replied:

You insist on using the word "sinner",
when they are *criminals*. It's more
than a "sin" when a child
is raped. Until Church officials
take responsibility and are held
accountable, they are not of Christ,
and neither is your Church.

As far as I am concerned, until those
responsible are forced out, the "faithful" are
also responsible. And holding others
responsible for such crimes doesn't
mean that forgiveness is absent.
I just want to make it fully official
that I reject my membership in your
organization and that I have good
reason to do so.